


sinners and saints

by Catory



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Spoilers for Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 08:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12577416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catory/pseuds/Catory
Summary: goro akechi shoots akira in the face, and gets what he wanted.OR: regret can't bring anyone back from the dead.





	sinners and saints

Goro Akechi raises his gun up and shoots Akira dead in the face.

He smiles as he does it, and it tastes like shit. Akira dies. Goro checks his pulse, just to make sure. It takes him a few minutes, because Goro’s hands are shaking slightly.

Nothing. Akira really was dead.

Goro’s never killed a real person before today.

Goro jostles the body and Akira’s head flops to the side. “Sorry,” Goro says reflexively. He laughs nervously in embarrassment. Who’s he even saying sorry to? There’s nobody here to hear him.

Goro should… he should leave.

Before closing the door to the interrogation room, he looks back. The guard, dead by his hand on the floor. Akira, slumped over the table.

In retrospect, all the events leading up to this moment this may have just been even worse ideas than offering to work for Shido in the first place. But hey, it wasn't as if Goro had a great track record with good ideas.

Why should this be any different?

Goro closes the door behind him.

(This isn't what he wanted at all.)

* * *

 

They don't share _his_ name on the news. So at the very least, Sakura-san and the rest of the Phantom Thieves should be okay, right?

Goro takes a sip of his cheap, convenience store coffee. It tastes awful. He wants to go back to LeBlanc. Sakura-san could be gruff— and heavens know that Goro didn't make the best first impression— but the man sure knew his coffee. Nothing else Goro has ever tasted could compare.

...He can never, ever go back to LeBlanc.

Huh. Somehow, that hadn't sunk in until just now.

Goro is never going to be able to sit at the counter and smell the coffee and curry again. He will never get to revel in the peace of dark, stained wood counters and a small TV in the corner turned down low again.

He will never—

No, no, no. Not going there.

He shakes his head. Now he's just being melodramatic. There are other coffee shops, Goro tells himself. You're in Tokyo, surely you can find an even better coffee shop around, if you just looked around for a few minutes. You could do it right now. Take out your phone and run a search.

He doesn't.

Goro takes another sip of his shitty coffee. It's going cold.

* * *

 

Shido likes proverbs.

Things ranging from "You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy's weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy." to “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”

(Goro forgot. He's Shido's _strongest_ weapon, not his _only_ one. And mental shutdowns aren't the only way to take care of people.)

* * *

 

One morning, a week or two after, one of the daily newspapers has the headline " **Shujin Student Suicide Spree?** " in bold red and white. Goro feels like he's been shot in the chest.

Those are two very familiar faces, underneath that headline. And neither of them had seemed the type to just kill themselves, even if they knew that their leader was dead. Goro thinks of the fire and passion in Ann's tone. The cool and focused way that Makoto would help Morgana plan out Metaverse excursions.

No, this wasn't suicide.

So... so then...

Did Shido...?

For some reason, Goro hadn't really thought about what exactly would happen to the Phantom Thieves, after he won.

He should have.

Goro doesn't know much about Ann's home life, but Sae-san... she's going to be crushed. First she gets taken off the Phantom Thief case, and now this? It just seems like insult to injury.

The prosecutor’s office is buzzing when Goro finally gets there, and he learns more. It makes him sick to his stomach. The police had found "evidence" of Makoto being a Phantom Thief somehow, and Sae was under suspicion now. The problem, Goro thinks, is that _none of that evidence was real._ Blueprints of Okumura Foods headquarters? Chemistry kits? Handwritten ledgers marking purchase of poisons and guns? _What?_ None of it made any sense. Well, Goro amends. None of it made any sense if you knew about the _real_ methodology of the Phantom Thieves, including the existence of the Metaverse.

Otherwise... it was plausible. It all _looked_ plausible.

Goro knows that it had all been planted. But even if he told anyone, who would believe him?

(Sae-san doesn't cry. She just sits in her office, and stares at her hands. Goro can't tell what she's thinking. And somehow, that's even worse than whatever Goro had been expecting.)

* * *

 

On a whim, Goro visits Leblanc one day. He’s not going to go in, he tells himself. He just wants to see it again. Maybe he’ll be able to get a peek inside without Sakura-san or Futaba noticing, or just the faintest whiff of coffee.

Goro toes a piece of glass on the pavement.

Well, at least he didn’t have to worry about either of the Sakuras coming out to yell at him.

The CRIME SCENE tape doesn’t suit the cafe at all, though. Neither did the glass on the pavement from the broken windows and doors.

Broken from the inside, Goro notes.

He carefully peeks through the window. Everything’s in ruins. The upholstery is torn, the stools are all missing, and the refrigerator door was hanging crooked.

The coffee beans were scattered all over the floor.

(Goro wonders what it looks like upstairs. Is it just as bad? Or worse?)

* * *

 

They get Yusuke next. Goro knows to expect it by now, and it doesn't quite catch him by surprise. The papers spin a little theory about escape from crushing debt left by his former mentor. Nevermind that it was complete hogwash to anyone who knew Yusuke.

Maybe he should have done something. Warned him? Told him to run?

Would he have listened to Goro?

Goro thinks for the first time, _if Shido is going to silence all of the Phantom Thieves…_

_…what could I even do to stop him?_

There's nothing he can do, Goro tells himself. It’s just the bitter truth.

And then Haru goes, the day after. She doesn't die, but all the news from the hospital said that, of course, the young lady was critically ill and could not have visitors, she might never wake up again. What a pity. It seems that this convenient distant cousin who nobody remembered until now would have to inherit the Okumura empire.

Goro thinks for the first time, _if Shido is going so far to take care of the Phantom Thieves…_

_…what is he going to do to me?_

Almost unconsciously, he slides his hand into his pocket. His phone rests heavy in his hand.

This, at least, is something he can find out.

* * *

 

Goro disguises his embarrassment at the fact it had taken him dozens of guesses to find the keywords to Shido's Palace with irritation. Of _course_ his father's palace was a fucking ship. It looked gaudy and stupid. _Stupid fucking metaphor._

Goro adjusts a sleeve nervously.

He doesn't know what's ahead. He wishes that he had backup for this. Goro shakes his head. What? Backup? Where had that thought come from? (He knows where it had come from.)

Sae's Casino must have made him soft. Goro's done this for years, he doesn't _need_ anyone.

He grits his teeth and heads in.

How hard could it be to find one cognition?

* * *

 

“There he is!”

"After him!”

“Get the intruder!”

Goro runs. Oh, he knew that he was stronger than any of the Shadows in here individually, but they all came in droves and they _wouldn’t stop coming_. He grits his teeth. This was the entrance hall, so the exit should be—

There!

Goro picks up his second wind as he catches a glimpse of the exit. As soon as he reaches it, he hits the Metaverse Nav, and the familiar twisting sensation comes. The red sky and rolling deck vanish and are replaced by a white tiled floor.

He’s back in the Diet building bathroom where he’d entered the Metaverse in the first place. Safe.

Goro leans against the side of the stall to catch his breath. The adrenaline had left him shaky, and his heart is still pounding a sharp _ratta-tat-tat-tat_ against his ribs.

Well, he’d done exactly what he’d set out to do. Goro had found Shido’s cognition of him, and he...

He’d—

He hadn’t expected that.

He should have expected that. Of course Shido already knew who he was, Goro thinks bitterly. Of _course_ he did.

Goro doesn’t have a Plan B. Maybe if the Phantom Thieves were still around, he could have—

But the Phantom Thieves are gone. Goro had destroyed them for… basically nothing, considering his plans had always been doomed to failure! Shido was, in fact planning to kill Goro in a few weeks too! Goro has nothing! He'd been blithely walking at the edge this whole time, and he'd never noticed just how close to crashing and burning he was!

Goro doesn’t want to die.

(Is this how Akira felt? Is this how the others felt?)

…

There's nothing Goro could have done for Akira’s teammates afterwards, he tells himself. _But he should have tried, anyways._ Maybe if he’d gone back to them. Maybe, if they’d worked together, they could have done the impossible.

Too late for maybes.

It’s too little, too late for most of them. Goro knows this.

But... there are still a few Phantom Thieves left unaccounted for.

* * *

 

“I’m sorry, Akechi-kun. But you’re not allowed to bring any cellular devices into the interrogation room.” The detention center guard smiles at him, vaguely condescendingly.

Goro’s better at it that he ever will be. “My apologies, _sir_ , but I have some sensitive documents on it that I need to show the inmate. It’s regarding the ongoing Special Investigations Unit case, you see. Above your clearance, so please don't ask.”

The guard hesitated. Goro pushes further. “Look, this phone doesn’t even have a SIM card in it. See? And there’s no wifi in this detention center. He couldn’t contact anyone if he wanted to. I’m running on a tight schedule here, are you letting me in there or not?”

“SIU, you say…” The guard repeats with narrowed eyes. “Then I guess you won’t mind if I called them to confirm your appointment while you're in there.”

“Go ahead.” Goro replies flippantly. “You won’t find anything out of place.”

The guard begrudgingly unlocks the door. “You’ve got fifteen minutes with him,” he says. “I suggest you make the most of it.”

Akechi steps through the door. The guard locks it behind him. Not that Goro planned to make a run for it. By the time the guard discovered that Goro really didn’t have permission from SIU to be here, it would be too late.

Goro sits down in the only unoccupied chair in the room.

“Hello there, Ryuji. It’s been a while.”

* * *

 

Ryuji looks terrible. He’s got a one-and-a-half-week-old black eye, and there are slowly mending cuts and bruises all over the rest of his skin.

He looks like he got the shit beat out of him by someone. That’s… unfortunately not even hyperbolic, Goro thinks. He remembers the police report. They’d physically dragged him out of his apartment on charges of aggravated assault, and then slapped a count of ‘resisting arrest’ on top of that. The other resident of the apartment, Ryuji’s mother, had not been present that the time.

Goro wonders if she’d tried to visit.

Well, if she hadn’t she’d probably never see Ryuji again. His trial was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, which was _ludicrously_ fast, in Goro’s experience. Even with an accelerated trial, the process should have taken weeks. This wasn’t a trial at all, was it? Everyone knew what the outcome of this would be. Ryuji would be sentenced to jail, and then Shido would arrange for him to be… taken care of. People died in jails all the time.

“Holy shit.” Ryuji says through a split lip. “You goddamn asshole. Holy shit, you—”

He lunges at Goro. The handcuffs chaining him to the desk make it a very short lunge, but that doesn’t stop Ryuji from doing it again, and again, and again, like if he just tried hard enough the handcuffs might break and he’d get to wrap his hands around Goro’s throat and _squeeze._

“Effin— goddamn— murdering— BASTARD!” He screams at Goro, raw and furious. “WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE? YOU _TRAITOR!_ ”

Goro doesn’t say anything.

Instead, he takes out his phone, and opens the Metaverse Nav.

Ryuji starts. “Wha—”

The edges of the room shimmer a little, and resettle. Goro watches as Ryuji’s Phantom Thief uniform appears. He doesn’t need to look to know that his had materialized as well. The guard must have made the call to SIU already, and realized that Goro had been lying.

From this point on, Goro was an enemy of Masayoshi Shido, and all the power that he could possibly bring to bear.

(No going back.)

* * *

 

Goro draws his sword. “Stay still,” he advises Ryuji.

Ryuji’s eyes widen. “Hey, whoa, the hell are you doing with that—” He raises his arms in front of his face, as if it would even mildly inconvenience Goro if he’d really wanted Ryuji dead.

Goro cuts through the handcuffs. “We need to get going. I don’t know how safe it is here.” He turns his back on Ryuji and kicks down the door. 

“What. I— you— but. _What?_ ”

Goro refuses to look back. “We need to get going,” he repeats as he walks out. Thankfully, Ryuji seems to get the message this time around.

Which doesn’t mean he comes _quietly,_ though. “No, seriously. What the hell is going on?!” A hopeful edge enters Ryuji’s voice. “Did— did one of the others send you? Are they alright?”

Ryuji doesn't know?

Goro’s heart drops, and he stops and stares at Ryuji, wide eyed. “Wait, you haven’t heard?”

“Heard what? They don’t tell me shit in here!” Ryuji complains.

“Ryuji…” Goro hesitates. He’d thought that Ryuji had known, he doesn’t want to be the one to say this. But he has to. “Ryuji, everyone’s dead.”

“What— like the zombie apocalypse or something?” Ryuji tilts his head in confusion, and Goro’s frustration rises.

“No, not like that. Ryuji. I… the Phantom Thieves. They’re all dead.”

Ryuji’s face slowly goes blank. “Dude. That’s not funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny, I’m serious! Ryuji, the other members of the Phantom Thieves are—”

Ryuji slams Goro against a wall. “What the _fuck_ happened.”

Goro wheezes, caught off guard. Ryuji doesn’t loosen his grip in the slightest. He keeps looking at Goro, waiting for an answer.

“I— I didn’t do it!” Goro starts. Ryuji narrows his eyes, and Goro rushes to amend his statement. “No, that’s incredibly callous of me, isn’t it? I gave you all up to the police. This _is_ my fault, even if I don’t want to admit it. If I just hadn’t—”

“All my friends are dead.” Ryuji interrupts, simply. “You're going to tell me who's responsible, and then you're gonna give me one good reason I shouldn't beat your face in.”

Goro opens his mouth. Closes his mouth.

Ryuji looks him. He doesn’t move.

“Masayoshi Shido.” Goro finally says.

“Who’s that.”

“...He’s the one at the bottom of everything. He funded Kaneshiro, he manipulated Okumura, he’s involved in every kind of dirty business you can think of. He’s the one who,” Goro swallows. “He had me kill Akira, and he’s going to kill me and you too, and I don’t. I can’t. I don’t know what to do but I don’t want any more people to die!”

Ryuji lowers his hands slightly.

“...You killed people for Shido.”

He says it like a statement of fact, not a question. “You could have said no to him.”

 _It’s not that simple,_ Goro wants to say. Saying no to Shido just wasn’t something that most people tended to survive for very long. Shido had unbelieveable power, and if Goro angered him—

Instead, Goro closes his eyes in resignation. “I could have,” he agrees.

He waits for Ryuji to make good on his threat.

Instead, Ryuji lets go of Goro’s collar. Goro opens his eyes in surprise. Ryuji looks back at him, steady as a rock.

“I can’t forgive you. You know that, yeah? But…” Ryuji looks away. “If Morgana or Makoto or— or Akira were here, I bet they’d tell me to stop bein’ an idiot. Because you aren’t anything near the real root of the problem, yeah? You bust me out of jail so I could help you take down Shido? Sure. I’ll do it. Let’s frickin’ go.”

Goro hadn’t actually thought that far ahead, actually. But…

It’s as good a goal as any.

He holds out a hand, and Ryuji takes it.

_Let the game begin._

**Author's Note:**

> premise: what if there was no double-double cross?
> 
> now i have one au where ryuji dies, and another where everyone BUT ryuji dies! fun. this one isn't getting continued tho, not unless i get a really super good idea for it.
> 
> happy halloween.


End file.
